DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36287#0091
PALMYRA AND THE REGION OF THE HAURAN
65
the village of Berneh. We then turned eastward and crossed over the Kuwek on a
strong modern bridge. At this point the little river is only about twenty feet wide,
but the current is swift. It was our desire to reach Mektebeh that day, but we were
told that it was ten or eleven hours distant. We traveled on, however, intending to
cover as much of the intervening country as possible. A man soon came along who
said we could make it in six or seven hours. In despair of receiving any real assist-
ance from the natives, we marched on, trusting to fortune to keep us out of difficulties.
Early in the afternoon we crossed a road leading south from Aleppo toward il-Anderin,
a place which we had planned in vain to visit. The population of this region is small.
Villages are few in number and some of them were deserted at the time of our visit.
The first deserted village we saw had been abandoned because of the failure of the
water supply, but others are used by the nomads as winter quarters. After a while it
became evident that we could not reach Mektebeh before dark, so it was decided to
pitch camp beside a deserted village called Hazzaneh. The nearest adequate supply
of water was a half-hour away and up in the hills toward the north. The mules were
pressed into this new service, and they transported to the camp an amount sufficient
for the caravan for that evening. Hazzaneh had also been deserted on account of the
lack of water. The people of to-day make no effort to increase the supply or to bring
water from a distance by aqueducts. They say, " It is the will of Allah," and they go
elsewhere. In one of the villages which we passed the people were making
building-bricks. They shape the mixture of clay and a few minor ingredients into
oblong blocks about fifty centimeters in length, twenty in width, and five in thickness.
Then they spread them out on the ground to be dried and baked by the sun.
We had much trouble with the guides of this neighborhood. They seemed to want
to lead us astray, and had it not been for our watchfulness we should have gone far
out of the way. During that night we were awakened by the shouts of our muleteers,
who thought they saw a man sneaking around near the pack-animals. A few shots
were fired without inflicting damage upon any one, but apparently causing the thief to
disappear. We thought that a mischievous native who had insisted upon joining the
party and acting as guide was responsible for this outbreak.
We now found ourselves once more in the black belt or basalt country. The first
building of basalt we discovered there is on the small hill above Hazzaneh. It is
to-day little more than a shapeless heap of stones.
On the 22d we passed a number of Bedawin encampments, some composed of a large
number of tents. Near one of them a shepherd was playing a primitive flute, his
notes sounding soft and plaintive as they floated across the hills. After a march of
an hour and a half we stopped in the center of a small valley and near Menzelit il-Bakat
to water the animals at a good well, sixty feet or more deep. The caravan had had no
water until then. At Rbe'ah, a little further on, there is also a good supply. As we
65
the village of Berneh. We then turned eastward and crossed over the Kuwek on a
strong modern bridge. At this point the little river is only about twenty feet wide,
but the current is swift. It was our desire to reach Mektebeh that day, but we were
told that it was ten or eleven hours distant. We traveled on, however, intending to
cover as much of the intervening country as possible. A man soon came along who
said we could make it in six or seven hours. In despair of receiving any real assist-
ance from the natives, we marched on, trusting to fortune to keep us out of difficulties.
Early in the afternoon we crossed a road leading south from Aleppo toward il-Anderin,
a place which we had planned in vain to visit. The population of this region is small.
Villages are few in number and some of them were deserted at the time of our visit.
The first deserted village we saw had been abandoned because of the failure of the
water supply, but others are used by the nomads as winter quarters. After a while it
became evident that we could not reach Mektebeh before dark, so it was decided to
pitch camp beside a deserted village called Hazzaneh. The nearest adequate supply
of water was a half-hour away and up in the hills toward the north. The mules were
pressed into this new service, and they transported to the camp an amount sufficient
for the caravan for that evening. Hazzaneh had also been deserted on account of the
lack of water. The people of to-day make no effort to increase the supply or to bring
water from a distance by aqueducts. They say, " It is the will of Allah," and they go
elsewhere. In one of the villages which we passed the people were making
building-bricks. They shape the mixture of clay and a few minor ingredients into
oblong blocks about fifty centimeters in length, twenty in width, and five in thickness.
Then they spread them out on the ground to be dried and baked by the sun.
We had much trouble with the guides of this neighborhood. They seemed to want
to lead us astray, and had it not been for our watchfulness we should have gone far
out of the way. During that night we were awakened by the shouts of our muleteers,
who thought they saw a man sneaking around near the pack-animals. A few shots
were fired without inflicting damage upon any one, but apparently causing the thief to
disappear. We thought that a mischievous native who had insisted upon joining the
party and acting as guide was responsible for this outbreak.
We now found ourselves once more in the black belt or basalt country. The first
building of basalt we discovered there is on the small hill above Hazzaneh. It is
to-day little more than a shapeless heap of stones.
On the 22d we passed a number of Bedawin encampments, some composed of a large
number of tents. Near one of them a shepherd was playing a primitive flute, his
notes sounding soft and plaintive as they floated across the hills. After a march of
an hour and a half we stopped in the center of a small valley and near Menzelit il-Bakat
to water the animals at a good well, sixty feet or more deep. The caravan had had no
water until then. At Rbe'ah, a little further on, there is also a good supply. As we